Copper Strings and Paper Wings
by kiltykat
Summary: Everything began with an amateurish poem...


Hey guys! I don't know what this is going to end up being so tell me what you think! Hope you enjoy! This is dedicated to a good friend of mine who also drew the cover art for this story and for Shadow's Waltz! Got to love her!

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_Copper strings and paper wings, and other worldly things. _

_Hanging by a silken thread, like puppet's puppet strings. _

_The balance and the chaos, weighing heavily with your qualms, _

_Take your time and speak them well, for life is in your palms. _

_Copper strings and paper wings, flutter carelessly in the breeze, _

_Steel barrettes, and golden rings, handled carefully with ease. _

_Silver birth, and diamond death, life's a golden token. _

_Copper strings and paper wings, both so easily broken_.

Sesshoumaru placed down the book of poetry he was reading and vaguely sniffed up his nose in disgust. He cleaned his small designer reading glasses with a handkerchief and decided to silently critique the 'work'. The poem was too, amateurish, too cliché. You could tell what was coming next, there were no surprises. How the poem was deemed worthy enough to be put into any sort of book whatsoever was beyond him!

'Literature, it would seem, has been steadily declining…' he decided silently. No surprise there either.

He picked up his small cup of coffee and rested his chin against his clasped hands. The sunlight pouring through the window of the small café gave him an almost heavenly look. His long silver hair was highlighted by the morning sun's vibrant array of red's and oranges. And, he noticed as he leaned a little closer to the window, if you looked up, the moon was still barely visible. Glancing at his watch he gave a small scowl. To the outside person, it would appear he was merely enjoying his morning in a little side shop café. In reality they would be wrong, very wrong. If it were his choice, he would not be sitting in these plastic, gaudy, 50's style seats. But, he frowned as another minute passed by, he was supposed to be meeting somebody here.

Suddenly the dinging of the bells at the door sounded out and he cut his eyes towards them only to see the person previously mentioned standing there. She was wearing a short navy blue pleated skirt, totally accepted in today's world, but he still wrinkled his nose up in distaste. She had on a long white button-up shirt with a navy blue sweater over it. She completed her look with a pair of blue loafers. Why she wore them, he didn't know. He raised one eyebrow, despite her skirt being ridiculously short; he found the outfit to be… quite pleasing to the eye. She looked decent for once. Her long wavy midnight black hair was left down, as usual. It cascaded down her back in soft waves, where it curled slightly at its ends.

'How boring she is…' He thought to himself.

Her face was left plain without the makeup to cover her features. Her lips looked a bit paler today, not as full he decided. And her cheeks were entirely too flushed, it made her seem rather ridiculous, if he did say so himself. Her long, thick curled eyelashes seemed dull today, yet her blue eyes were still as giddy as ever. She looked around for a second, running one slender pale hand through her hair, ignoring the whistle from the teenagers in a booth a few feet away, blushing slightly as she laid eyes on him. She gave him a large white smile and a small wave and received a small nod in reply. She started making her way towards the booth, and he couldn't help but notice how plain she looked today. He shifted his gaze upon her once she sat down across from him.

"You are late," He said as he took in her appearance from close up. Close up, far away. It made no difference, she was still plain. He took another rather long sip of coffee and stared at her over the rim of the mug, smirking when she blushed and cleared her throat, picking up her menu and feigning interest.

"Yes well… traffics a bitch…" She said matter-of-factly, placing down the menu and calling forth the waitress timidly. She gave her the order and thanked her before turning back to look at him. She blinked as she noticed the red bound, worn book lying next to his glasses by the window.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing to them with question swirling around her large blue eyes.

He glanced at the book and picked it up turning a few pages before slamming it shut.

"Nothing really, just a few collected poems, not very interesting." He said placing it back down, facing her, waiting for her response.

She frowned and placed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I see…" She said, tugging at her bottom lip.

He tilted his head and stared at her a few moments before turning his attention to the passerby's. They sat in a, seemed to him, comfortable silence for a while, before the atmosphere was ruined by the waitress bringing her the plate of food, and placing it down in front of her.

"Here you go 'sug." The middle-aged woman said, smiling at them both, popping her gum rather annoyingly.

The girl smiled and paid her leaving it to just the two of them again.

"Um…" She began timidly, "Would you like some of this?" She asked pointing down to a messy array of food, if you would call it that.

He merely shook his head and looked back out the window. She gingerly picked up her fork and placed an egg into her mouth. He glanced at her and felt his lips twitch slightly. No matter how plain she was, she was always an endless supply of amusement.

"You called me here…" He said, enjoying the blush that spread across her cheeks. He laid his head against his hand again and idly played his now empty cup of coffee. Watching the few brown drops roll back and forth across the bottom of the cream colored mug.

"Yes, I guess I did…" She said, rather hollowly. He raised an eyebrow and cut his eyes at her. What was with this?

She took in a deep breath and put down her fork, wiping her mouth silently with the napkin he handed her. Giving a gentle murmur of thanks she said, "I called you here to talk about… us."

He let a smirk overtake his features as he repeated, "us?"

She sent a glare his way and continued. "Well, we have been spending more time together recently, with Inuyasha gone and all, and I wondered just what you saw me as…" She finished softly, her eyes hopeful and needy.

'What a shame…' he thought as he released the mug.

"I do not know, but I doubt it would be what you want to hear. So think what you want."

"It'd be nice to think you loved me," she said, running one pale hand down his smooth cheek. Taking in a quivering breath, she looked into his cold golden eyes. All hopes were deflated.

She watched as he scoffed at her and lightly removed her hand from his face, placing it back to her side.

"Copper strings, and paper wings…" He said, looking anywhere but her. Confusion glazed over her features and she found herself mechanically asking, "What?"

He turned and gave her an almost sympathetic look. Except for the scowl that still marred his brow.

'Or as sympathetic as he'll ever be…' she thought glumly.

"Copper strings and paper wings… they flutter carelessly in the breeze…" he said.

He figured she realized now he was quoting a poem, or at least she probably figured it to be a poem.

She flushed as he handed her the book, she turned to the page and read the poem. When she was done she read it again. When she was done she closed the book silently. She felt her cheeks flame up in embarrassment. She couldn't even look him in the eye as she handed him back the book. She was so angry… he thought she was merely infatuated with him, as if this wasn't real this was just a whim she ran away with. As if she was some child!

"I am not playing around Sesshoumaru…" She said, as the tears pricked at her eyes. She fought the urge to blink them away.

He stared at her as if she was the little girl from next door again and said quietly, "Of course not…"

Kagome ground her teeth together and crossed her arms across her chest, turning away from him. She wanted to slap that empty look off of his face so bad she could almost taste it.

"You needn't love me…" Sesshoumaru said, hollowly, turned towards the window, his face highlighted by the suns welcoming arms.

She turned towards him slowly, and her breathing caught somewhere between her lungs and her mouth. He was absolutely breathtaking then, but then again he always was. Even when they were younger, he was always so… perfect.

She scowled at the man across the table and hissed, "I'm not a child anymore Sesshoumaru, you can't tell me what to feel!"

She watched as he turned to her, almost in slow motion as his silver hair flowed over one shoulder and flowed together neatly with the rest of the silver locks. His lips opened ever so slowly as he said, "Then quit acting like one…"

She felt all air leave her completely, like a punch in the stomach. She had spent all those years, trying to look mature in his eyes, to be good enough, and here he was telling her she was a child. Just a stupid child…

"Why have I never been good enough for you?" She asked, perhaps a bit too harshly. The sound grated on her ears and she winced as he sent her a cold glare.

"There are some things that would be most wise to leave… untouched." Sesshoumaru said slowly, as if she couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

She of course acted as though she had heard nothing, "I just don't see any other reason for you not to like me, and I mean I'm intelligent enough right? I understand you better than any other girl in her right mind should! You're somewhat comfortable around me right?"

She was being ridiculous, naming those things off the top of her head. She was no different than anybody else; perhaps it was his fault for letting her think otherwise for so long.

"I just don't- I just don't see why you can't say you love me…" She finished quietly, her cheeks flushed and her hands palms down in her lap. The table's grain work was very interesting right now, and she felt like tracing the patterns against the rough pads of her fingers.

Sesshoumaru leaned over the table and hissed, "What? You want me to say it? Fine! I love you, I love you, I love you. But you don't want it like that right? With no feeling behind it? The truth is, I don't…"

She felt the tears trickle past the bottom rim of her eyes, and felt one hot tear trickle down her cheek. This time she couldn't help it, and she wiped them away with her hands staring at the table as it blurred beneath her.

She was a big girl though, and she could take it. So she gathered up all of her courage, sucked in some air looked him straight in the eye with a big fake smile and said, "Yeah, I mean that was ridiculous of me huh?" She finished with a soft tinkling of rather fake laughter.

Somehow, that disturbed him greatly. He took in her features and he hated to say it, but she was so much more interesting when she was sad. Only now, she wasn't amusing anymore, and her eyes weren't dancing. She was still plain, that was the worst. He still couldn't see her as anything but, plain.

He was so lost in his thoughts he barely noticed that she had stood up and was waiting for his attention. He glanced up and gave her an empty stare. She still had on that big fake smile, it was slightly unnerving.

"Well… I guess I should be going, so this is good-bye." She said softly, her voice a bit too high-pitched for her to be as happy as she tried to make herself sound.

He merely nodded his head and looked away. He listened to her take a deep breath as she said, "Copper strings and paper wings…"

He turned back to her with a raised eyebrow. What was she babbling on about? She ignored it and finished, "Both so easily broken."

Then she turned around and walked out, the dinging of the bells and the now empty plate before him the only reminders that she was once there.

He sighed, he realized now that her feelings were not superficial, nor in fatuous, they were real. But what was he to do?

He thought back and tried to think, did he feel anything for her?

'_How boring she is…' He thought to himself. _

_He couldn't help but notice how plain she looked today. _

_Close up, far away. It made no difference, she was still plain._

No, he decided. She was just the awkward girl from next door, with a mixed amount of feelings for him. She was just so… plain. Yet he couldn't help but remember how amusing she was, or how her eyes sparkled when she was happy. But he was just making observation…

Shaking his head he thought, 'Well, not like it matters…'

That was true, he'd probably never see her again, that good-bye was just too final, to heartfelt for it to be a 'see you later'. So he picked up his still empty coffee cup and the dried spots of brown that stuck to the bottom of the cream colored mug and stood up, relieved to finally be leaving those gaudy seats. He took one last glance at the shop in a new light. He felt some sort of shallow affection for it now… He quickly walked out of the door the dinging of the bells sounding out, the only memory of him left. That and the red bound, old worn book he left laying on the table, open to an old yellowed page that read…

_Copper strings and paper wings, and other worldly things. _

_Hanging by a silken thread, like puppet's puppet strings. _

_The balance and the chaos, weighing heavily with your qualms, _

_Take your time and speak them well, for life is in your palms. _

_Copper strings and paper wings, flutter carelessly in the breeze, _

_Steel barrettes, and golden rings, handled carefully with ease. _

_Silver birth, and diamond death, life's a golden token. _

_Copper strings and paper wings, both so easily broken_.

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Hey! I don't know, should I leave this a one-shot or not? You guys tell me! Hope you liked it!


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